Southwest Airlines Community

Also, not to be TOO picky, but President Richard Nixon was on the football team at Whittier College, his alma mater (and mine...although more recently for me). But otherwise, super cool post! ... View more

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those are my friends!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been there since the BEGINNING (almost ELEVEN years ago!) lol. I read the Southwest blog regularly, but must admit that the last couple months I have been super busy with third year med school hospital rotations and studying for board exams so I hadn't been on the site in a while. Imagine my surprise to see a big amazing picture of my friends on the site! lol. I was at the wedding, too!!! (Couldn't fly SWA because you weren't flying out of LGA yet in May :) Listen - I need you guys to stop doing amazing things like this for your customers because they make me regret turning down your Flight Attendant training offer to go to med school instead. My friends know the story of why...my mom, God bless her, asked me very nicely (well, kind of told me) that she preferred me to go to med school...but to this day I wish I could be a flight attendant, just for a month! lol. Thank you guys for awesome employees like the ones who gave my friend the peanuts on her flight and for always putting your customers on top. You rock! ... View more

I never realized you guys could hear the PA announcements or noise from the cabin up in the flight deck. Wow - that is pretty cool. I always just figured passenger applause was just shared by the FA to the pilot - I didn't know you actually heard it. Very cool! ... View more

As a former teacher in the Baltimore City Public School System, I was truly moved to tears to see the excitement on the faces of the kids. I had always dreamed of organizing a field trip for my kids that involved air travel, since almost none of my students (in middle school) had ever been on an airplane...or even to the airport. The actions of Mr. Jackson and SWA are commendable. SWA truly is America's hometown airline - thank you for creating a memory that the amazing students from Texas won't soon forget. And PLEASE know that there are many teachers out there, including many of my old colleagues in Baltimore City, who would love to partner with you for something like this in the future. God bless you for your generosity! ... View more

I know that we unfortunately live in a hypersensitive and self-righteous society, but I personally would love to see SWA organize another hilarious sale slogan like with the mini-skirt sale. Perhaps "SWA is Cracking Prices" or something like that :) Regardless, everything is gravy and this whole issue is a media field day on much ado about nothing. I personally look forward to my next LUV line flight. Keep up the great work and thank you to all your employees for having the confidence to smile and treat us nicely. ... View more

There is only ONE scary fact in all this: it is that I live in a society where too many people take the media reporting as fact, not to be questioned, analyzed, scrutinized, or doubted. We hear words like "unsafe" from a reporter and accept it as a verdict. And then we unfairly attach all sorts of unfounded reasons for the action - like Southwest was being greedy or this was their way of saving money or any other in a list of ridiculous assertions. To even suggest that the Maintenance Crew at SWA would knowingly put people in harm way to save a buck is shameful, but does shed light on how various events in history, like the Salem Witch Trials, could have occurred - we as humans are too stupid for our own good...and we don't even realize it. Well here is a couple reminders, fellow countrymen: we have young, admirable men and women fighting a war on several fronts to protect freedoms and liberties like "innocent until proven guilty". Of course, lucky for the many ignorant and incompetent stone-throwers is that they also have freedom of speech and expression - even to express unproven ideas as fact. And one more frustrated observation: somehow suddenly every person on this blog becomes a "Platinum member" - "I flew you hundreds of times a month...BUT NO MORE" goes the familiar saying. You know, not that I condone the brand of customer service that Spirit Airlines presents, but his CEO was correct when he implied that overly self-righteous customers need to get over themselves. ... View more

In the freezer, dude?!?!!? Really bro?????? C'mon man!!!!! ... View more

I've posted a few times before on this topic. Quick synapse: LUVin' it. BUT, it just occurred to me after reading another post above that your new Business Select fare will be short-handed as "BS". I found this to be fairly amusing. Personally, I feel as though your marketing people could have come up with a WILDLY more exciting name that is more fun than "Business" and "Business Select", which is so dry and boring and not the typical SWA style. I expected more creativity from the airline that turned a mini-skirt incident into a hilarious and successful national advertising campaign :) Just some thoughts. Regardless, see y'all at LAX in a couple weeks when I travel with friends to LAS for a fun filled day! Happy flying! cheers, artie ... View more

I have expressed my ideas in a posting on the original presentation of the idea. Quick synopsis: people need to take a deep breath, relax, let things become established and evaluate after having experienced it - not based on emotional arguments about not feeling equal because they can't get A1 anymore. I DID agree with some posters that for purely PR reasons, families should just pre-board, with LIMITS. But other than that, I agree with SWA about the changes it needs to make in order to keep fares nice and pretty for the rest of us. Yet people continue to say they don't like it either before they have tried it or purely because they didn't feel equal having to line up further back. Before coming to medical school, I was a Middle School teacher - and boy oh boy, it's a good thing Mr. Kelly doesn't run SWA the way I ran my classroom in Baltimore City. He has shown patience, kindness, an openness to listen, etc. In my class, whiners were told to grow up - end of story. Furthermore, I did some math: (Mr. Kelly or Ms. Berg, please correct errors I probably made) But there are about 137 seats on an airplane, 6 seats across. That means about 23 rows in an airplane - each of those rows has 2 window seats, 2 aisle seats, and 2 middle seats. That means there are 4 seats per row that somebody would prefer and only 2 that somebody would rather avoid (middle seat). 4x23=92. Assuming an absolutely full airplane, that still means all the A group (even A60) gets a desirable seat and the majority of B group gets a desirable seat. And since SWA is only selling 15 Select fares, that leaves a whole lotta nice seats for everyone else. If somebody wants to pay that much more to park themselves on the same "EQUAL" leather seat as SWA made available to me for way less than the competitor, I'm all for it! Let's not confuse SWA's mission - to me, their mission and goal is to provide the Freedom to Fly to everyone. Unlike a previous blogger who advocates across the board increases in fares in order to maintain the proverbial "equality" everyone keeps talking about, I WOULD rather SWA give some perks to people who are paying way more if it means I get to keep the freedom to see my family, go on a vacation, and explore this great country of ours. People, there are way more important things we could be worrying ourselves over rather than A3 vs. B47. Grow up. ... View more

I wasn't going to post on this topic, but after reading the comments above, SHEESH! You would think SWA announced that it was trashing its whole operation, merging with American Airlines and going to be operating as American Connection or something. CHILL OUT PEOPLE! And SWA - do a better job of getting all the facts of your changes out there. People are posting based on emotion and misinformation, rather than facts. People are all in a frenzy about losing their "A" Boarding Pass to Business fares - but there are only about 15 of those seats available as I understand it. And I can't imagine that there will be 45 A-listers on a single flight as to hoard up the rest of the A passes. But even if there are, I'm usually the lazy one who checks in whenever and usually end up with a "B" pass. GASP! Yet, I have never sat in the middle seat on SWA. Even on full flights. I do feel that bulking all the leisure fares takes transparency and freedom away from the consumer. It would have been more desirable to create less categories, to be sure, but not only 1 "Wanna Get Away" category. And the "Business" label is soooooo boring and lame. SWA could have been more creative about that. And on the issues of families: I think the frustration by most bloggers has less to do with how the new policy is working and more to do with perceived injustice. Your testing may have shown efficiencies, but it obviously did not account for emotions involved. Frankly, I also find it unconscionable to stick families through out the line and in the back of the line. Create a policy that specifies how many people may board with a specific age child, create a special section in the back of the plane, and move on from this PR trouble. All the effort it takes to defend this policy will be useless because you are not up against reason and logic - you are up against emotion and perceptions. Overall, I find myself believing that people are less upset by the actual changes themselves and more upset about the philosophical shift they perceive this to mean for the airline. I read many comments expressing dissatisfaction that SWA is becoming more like legacy carriers. HOGWASH! That claim is indefensible until I start feeling the same wariness and fear going up to a SWA agent as I do going up to an AA agent. All in all, everyone needs to just chillax and at least wait to see how this goes before pouncing! ... View more

OK, so mine is not as creative as the one's Leah has been putting up, but here's a little something I did at my interview for SWA. (I ultimately got an invite for the September 2007 class of FAs, but had to turn down at the last minute due to a family situation. I'm now in med school): (Sung to the tune of that one song, the name I don't remember, but you can probably figure it out): "We love our passengers, oh yes we do! We love all of you, it's true!! When you don't fly with us, we're blue!!!! At Southwest we love you!..... Welcome Aboard!" OK, back to studying for me now :( cheers, Artie ... View more

OUTTA CONTROL hilarity!! You guys are just too much - but I'm absolutely lovin' it! I'm not sure I will ever forgive myself for listening to Jeff? (an FA on a flight of mine over a year ago) who told me to choose med school over joining the September 2007 class of FAs. Y'all are just having too much fun and I want in! lol Eat some candy corn for me, too! cheers, Artie ... View more

Carol! It has been so long that I had forgotten how much we have missed reading your hilarious blogs! Please post again soon! 🙂 (But shhh, don't tell my professors that I'm reading the blog during class and laughing at YOUR jokes, not theirs!) Safe and fun flying! cheers, Artie ... View more

Dear Mr. West, The former teacher in me wants to just place a big fat A+ on this article and place it on the "Super Star Writing" wall in my old classroom. And while I certainly would have done that for this amazing and emotional piece on your trip today, I would also have to unfortunately spend a ridiculous amount of time correcting the myriad of spelling, grammar, sentence structure and thought presentation errors in the writing by "wood". At first I was furious - at you, the moderators of this blog, for taking such an emotional piece like Mr. West's and allowing a comment so arrogant and ridiculous such as wood's to be on the same page. But then I remembered - a bunch of cowardly terrorists were unable to break our American spirit. Hell, they couldn't even achieve their own dastardly objectives due to the "force of Americanism." And while many of their terrorist buddies continue to live in countries where they have no freedom to express themselves constructively - we in the United States have that right. We have died to protect that right. We have even died to provide that right to others. Mr. West - your article has struck a nerve in me - it found the words to express how I felt about 9/11. And Southwest Airlines - your actions today, in allowing wood's post, cemented the fact that we live in an amazing country - the best country, really. I pray that God continues to protect our soldiers, our country, and the amazing people that make up, as you call it, "the rest of America." As Southwest marketing so eloquently states: "DING! You are now FREE...." ... View more

For Halloween last year, I went to a party as one of my favorite people - a Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant. I had blue vest, khakis and polo...I printed out a SWA wings picture and taped it on my vest. I even made a safety briefing card, just so people could follow along :) If you aren't already, if you start now you could probably get your FA certification in time for Halloween, right? Oh the fun! ... View more

Dear Captain Ray, I know you have heard this before, but I feel compelled to restate it: the vivid descriptions of your experiences in the cockpit are just awe-inspiring! I thank you for taking the time to write them down and share with the rest of us! Perhaps after I'm finished with medical school and worked long enough to pay off my debts, I will follow my other passion and dream - of becoming a pilot! Your stories certainly make me wonder if I shouldn't have pursued in the opposite direction! 🙂 Of course, I really have no idea what/where/how pilots earn their wings. Perhaps a post for another day? Thanks again! ... View more

I once had a flight that left BWI around 8am and my ride had to drop me off extra early. I had checked in the day before, so I had my "A" boarding pass AND I was 2nd person in line because I was so early that nobody else was at the gate yet. Let me tell you - WELL WORTH IT - I was flying to LAX with stops in Indianapolis AND Vegas, but I got to fly SWA First Class the whole way. "What's that?!?" you ask?? "Southwest doesn't have a firstl class, silly!" you say! HA - It's called Row 11 (I think) - the Emergency Exit Row! Ya, when I would get the "B" boarding pass (all the time!), I would just kick back and join the B line at the end before they called the "C" group. But man, for that one time when I had the chance to fly SWA First Class - it was well worth the 1 hour and 48 minutes I spent sitting on the ground before boarding! 🙂 ... View more

The perk of going to medical school in the Caribbean - no summer off. But wait, there's more - since we're on a Dutch island, no break for Independence Day...well, at least not for the AMERICAN Independence Day :( So this 4th of July, I'll be going to classes as normal, studying for exams, and then reading all the emails from my friends as they describe the amazing things they did an ocean away in celebration of our freedom...including the freedom to study medicine in another beautiful island country :) My prayers and thanks to all the great women and men who VOLUNTEER to allow the rest of us these great freedoms. ... View more

OK, now I'm really jealous. Y'all get to work for a sweet company AND go to fun parties?! Tell me again why I'm not signing my emails with "Proud Southwest Employee"?? :) Sounds like you had a blast! Just one more question: your profile says you were hired in November 2007? You threw me for a big loop there until I figured out that yes, we ARE still in 2007 and no, November has not passed me by just quite yet! I had to confirm that with several people before my equilibrium returned! (Might want to fix that :) cheers, artie ... View more

And with this, I dive head first into my very first ever "blog entry." After reading all these comments, please let me add: BWI, people! BWI BWI BWI BWI BWI BWI BWI BWI!!!!!! I lived in Baltimore for two years after college (moved there from California). While I'll agree that some of the other airports mentioned in these posts are nice, there really is NO place like BWI. The facility (just opened last year) is marvelous, and the overall feeling of being in Baltimore is really captured from the moment you arrive at the airport by the amazing People. Another blogger asked if we could capture the smell of a new airplane in a bottle. If we ever do, I say we add it to the great new smell of a whole brand-spankin' new terminal :) In 2006, I flew out of BWI for the last time as I moved out of Baltimore back to California (I'm currently actually in the Caribbean for medical school...SWA please fly to St. Maarten! 🙂 Southwest was the last airline I flew out of BWI (and in the process of getting to LAX, I got to see Indianapolis and Las Vegas airports - it was a fun, well, skipping trip across the country) - I look forward to taking SWA back to Baltimore again some day. Until then - VISIT BWI!!! From there, go visit the Inner Harbor and all the great places in Baltimore. Then come back to BWI and enjoy the terminal! ... View more